Reader Recipe Favorites of 2014

Good Morning dear readers,  I'm posting every ones favorite recipes from 2014.  Hopefully this will also tell me what you all want to see on the blog for 2015.

1.  The return of Cookie Club-Snow Ball Cookies
http://lorrainesresources.blogspot.com/2014/10/the-return-of-cookie-club.html

This also was a murder mystery recipe which turned out great.


2.    Holiday Crock pot Breakfast Casserole
http://lorrainesresources.blogspot.com/2014/10/holiday-crock-pot-breakfast-casserole.html

This is one I got to play with and make my own.

3.  Orange Delicious Confection of Murder
http://lorrainesresources.blogspot.com/2014/01/orange-delicious-confection-of-murder.html

This also was a murder mystery recipe.

4.  Sparkling Holiday Punch
http://lorrainesresources.blogspot.com/2014/12/sparkling-holiday-punch.html

5.  Frugal and Easy Blue Berry Muffin Redo
http://lorrainesresources.blogspot.com/2014/08/frugal-and-easy-blue-berry-muffins-redo.html

Well these are the top 5 recipes from 2014.  What do these tell me that you want more murder mystery recipes plus ones I develop myself.  I will also be doing more frugal and healthy recipes in 2015.  If you haven't visited these lovely recipes this is your chance to take a peek.

What I got for Christmas

Good Morning dear readers, here's my post on what I got for Christmas.  I was able to give everyone some money and I bought myself some much needed art supplies.  The ongoing theme is of course art supplies.  So if you got money for Christmas, I would hit up Tuesday Morning.  I found double ended markers for rubber stamping gives different colors in your art journaling and some rubber stamps sets.  I also hit up the thrift store and found some lovely rubber stamps and an exacta knife-can't wait to try making my own stamps.  The boys bought me some acrylics and colored pencils as well as other stuff.  Here's the pics of what I got and go check out Tuesday Morning.

Merry Christmas 2014

Good Afternoon dear readers, we will be taking a few days off for the holiday and we are wishing you and yours a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.  Remember to throw all wrappers and ribbons away and don't leave any holiday food accessible to your fur babies.

Sparkling Holiday Punch

Good Morning dear readers, we have another murder mystery recipe to share for Christmas.  Ironically it comes from the Krista Davis book "The Domestic Diva Haunts The House" which of course is the Halloween book.  I did find her Thanksgiving book but all the recipes are for stuffing and the boys do not eat stuffing   So I wont be making any of those but the book is really a good story so check it. The name of the book is "The Diva Runs Out Of Thyme".  So onto the recipe, I've changed the name of it.  You can change this recipe up quite easily because it calls for sparkling cider and cider comes in different flavors so give it a try. I've altered the recipe to fit my families needs. Here's what you'll need.

Sparkling Cider-doesn't have to be apple you can try other flavors

Ginger Ale

Orange Juice-I used SunnyD

Get one of your festive glass pitchers

add 1/3 of each item

1/3 cider

1/3 ginger ale

1/3 juice

Mix together put ice in nice glasses serve

Frugal Zesty Orange Cookies

Good Morning dear readers,  I promised you another cookie recipe and here it is today.  If you remember we made an orange dreamsicle type cake awhile back.  Well I still had a box of the orange cake mix.  I always love making cookies with cake mixes because you don't need a lot of ingredients. You can pretty much use what you have on hand.  These taste delicious and give a nice orangey smell to the house.  Here's what you need to make these yummy cookies

1-Orange Cake Mix

1/2 cup melted baking margarine

1 cup chocolate semi sweet chips

2 teaspoons orange extract

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 eggs

Preheat Oven 350 degrees

Mix eggs, margarine and cake mix together. Then add your extracts and mix well together.  Fold in chocolate chips.  Use spoon to mound  cookie dough on cookie sheet 2 inches apart.  Put in oven for 10-12 minutes until edges are brown.  Makes about 2 dozen.  Bon Appetite.

It's the journey that matters most Jump Right In art page

Good Morning dear readers,  I finally finished a page today.  I was able to get some new supplies which I will post later camera ran out of juice.  A big thank you to who ever posted about Tuesday Morning having craft supplies.  I was in heaven was able to pick up some stuff.  Then my thrift store got some supplies in which made me very happy.  One of the supplies was an exacta knife which I've been wanting.  So this page is about fighting procrastination which I'm real good at doing.  I painted the background with white gesso and then put a large clock stencil all over it in black archival ink.  Then went over it with blue oil pastel crayon.  Then ran some yellow water colors on the page with a brush.  Here's where the knife comes in found a picture of a jumping girl and cut her out.  Then used the cut out section has a stencil and filled in with red oil pastel and lined it with black paint markers.  Then rubber stamped with It's the journey that matters most on parts of the page.  Then wrote Jump Right In to go with my jumping girl.  There's my page can't wait to try my hand at making my own rubber stamps.  Have a great day and Merry Christmas.

Frankies Corner-I Smell Cat Nip

Good Morning dear readers, Frankie's been trying to figure out where his cat stocking is hidden.

                                                   I smell cat nip

                                                               Maybe if I stare at it

                                                         I'll just look in here

No I'm going to have to go inside and look

IT'S FREE AT CVS JUST THE TAX

Good Afternoon dear readers,  Kyle did the CVS shop for me to help me out.  He did a very good job.  He did two transactions unfortunately due to the rain could get a photo of the soda boxes.  They fell apart.  So here's the breakdown on the trip.

3 Cases of the seven up brand sodas @ 3/$11 got $3 in ecb's

2 bags of lays chips @ 2/$6 got $1 in ecb's

total before coupons/discounts  $29.85                          O.O.P   $18.80

Saved $11.05  which is a savings of  37%

2ND Transactions 

2-JBT paper towels @ 2/$1

2-Cans Friskies  @ $.60 each used 20% off coupon

1-Xtra Laundry detergent  @ $1.99 used $1 off coupon printing off at red machine

1-Puffs plus @ $.88

2-Dawn dish soap @ $.88

1-Quilted Northern Toilet Paper  @ $4.99  used $.75/1 coupon

1-Colgate Total Toothpaste  $2.99

Total before coupons/sales/discounts   $22.44           SAVINGS 100%  O.O.P JUST TAX  $1.17
Also used $9 in ecb's from previous transaction.

Frankies Corner-Cat vs. Christmas Decorations

Good Morning dear readers.  Frankie and I have been having it out about the displays.  Well mother if you wouldn't put them underneath the heat vent I wouldn't have to knock them down.  Frankie you know you have a nice warm blanket to lay on and don't need to lay near the decorations.  Well mother I don't care I want to lay under the vent so that's that.  Frankie you just want to be a brat.  Well yes their is that.

The History of Thrift Shops and my latest Haul

Good Morning dear readers, do  you ever wonder why we love thrift stores so much.  For me its finding something I need at the fraction of the cost.  Plus you can find vintage items that might have an interesting history to it.  A story to tell your family in the future.  I was also wondering how did thrift stores get started.  Did you know the first one opened in 1899 in England?  In England their called charity shops and really didn't take off  until World War I.  I think why their so popular now is the recent recession.  When you don't have a lot of money this is the best way to save.  It's also the best way charitable organizations can raise money i.e. goodwill, hospice and st. Vincent DE Paul.  Well on my recent trip I continued the tradition of adding new to me ornaments to the Christmas tree plus a unique stocking for Christmas.  I also picked up some rubber stamps for my favorite hobby art journaling.  Sorry no pics on the rubber stamps didn't turn out.  So here they are.  Have you added some thrifted ornaments to your tree this year?

                Frankie kept thinking this one was a new chew toy and would climb the tree to get to her.

similar links
http://lorrainesresources.blogspot.com/2013/12/fun-thrifty-ornaments.html

CVS Trip--We're Back

Good Afternoon dear readers,  here's the other trip I did yesterday.  My little push cart was so full, I couldn't turn around and redeem all the ecb's I got.  Here's what I got and how many ecb's.

3-Big Bag of Hershey Kisses @ $5 each used $1/2 coupon got $5 ecb

3-General Mills Cereal  @  3/$9  used $1/3 coupon got $3 ecb

1-Dunkin Donuts  @ $5.99  got $1 ecb

total before coupons/sales/discounts $44.63              O.O.P   $27.99

Saved $16.64      Savings     37%

I wont be able to go back until the weekend according to the weatherman nasty storm coming thru tonight. Like what you see come join us on our facebook page http://www.facebook.com/lorraine2448  we would love to see yah.

Other CVS Shopping trips
http://lorrainesresources.blogspot.com/2014/01/cvs-3-transactions-and-only-paid-tax.html
http://lorrainesresources.blogspot.com/2014/03/cvs-haul-whole-lotta-purex-98-savings.html

Savemart Holiday Meat Trip

Good Afternoon dear readers, sorry this is late had to deal with computer issues(Conor downloaded a game which flooded me with pop ups).  I hit the 5/$25 dollar sale and also got some other items I needed.  So here's the break down:

4 packages of foster farms fresh chicken @ $5 each

2 packages ground beef @ $5 each

4 packages of various pork cuts @ $5 each

1 package of fish sticks @ $5

1 package of ground turkey @ $5

1 package of corn dogs @ $5

2 packages of pre-prepared chicken strips @ $5 each

1 gallon of milk

1 package of totinos pizza rolls @ $2.50 for 40 count

5 Dennison's chili 4/$5 plus buy 4 get 1 free

1 2liter sprite

1 gator

2 kidney beans @ $1 each

2 all American lemon pies @ $.89 comparable to hostess

total before coupons/sales/discounts  $129.71             O.O.P  $94.21    Saved $35.50  @  27%

Like what you see we would love for you to follow us at http://www.facebook.com/lorraine2448

Similar tips on shopping for meat
http://lorrainesresources.blogspot.com/2014/08/tips-for-buying-reduced-price-meat.html

What's meant to be will always find a way art page

Good Evening dear readers, I got a chance to play in my art journal today.  I've been seeing a lot of angels around so I wanted to put some in a page.  I found the lovely quote from Trisha Yearwood online "What's meant to be will always find a way".  I like this quote it makes me feel that my goals are attainable.  The main goal being moving to Washington.  Anyways I paint the background in light acrylic blue paint.  I attempted to draw an angel. She didn't turn out to bad still needs practice.  My neighbor loaned me an angel stencil.  I filled in both angels with oil pastels and paint markers.  I rubber stamped in blue and black ink a little house and the stamp today is a gift from god on the page. I wrote the quote in black paint pen.  I went over open areas with a darker blue oil pastel.  Had a lot of fun with this page.  What type of pen do you recommend for drawing on paint plmk.  Thanks for reading and join us on my face book page for more stuff.

Frankies Corner-Giving Mom The Razz Berry

Good Morning dear readers,  Mom says its supposed to be wordless Wednesday but I have to much to say to keep quiet.  Like people when I'm sleeping leave me alone. If you don't I'm going to give you a Razz Berry and look Cross Eyed at you.

                                                  

Are You A Cookie Virgin?

(contains amazon afilliated links see disclosure in footer)
Good Morning dear readers,  Are you wondering what a cookie virgin is?  Well a cookie virgin is someone who has never hosted or been in a holiday cookie swap.  I thought since I'm cooking all these recipes for the holidays. I would give you tips on how to host your own cookie swap.  I've read  a lot of tips on how to host one and wanted to share it with you.  So here we go and enjoy.  Also this gives you the chance to try different cookies without spending the money on the ingredients-can be considered frugal way of trying new cookies.

1.  Invite 6-12 friends to come to the party
2.  Agree on no one makes basic chocolate chip everyone always does this recipe to death
3.  Since we are already in December set the date a week before Christmas
4.  Have each person make 7 dozen of the cookie their bringing and extra to try out.
5.  Bring boxes or tins for everyone to take home cookies
6.  Have your copies of your recipe written or printed out for each person to take home
7.  No store bought cookies must be home made
8.  Set a pretty table for your party
9.  Serve coffee, punch or other party nibbles

Finally why not make it even greater by making a donation to a food bank by having your cookie club bring canned items or even a cash donation for the food bank.

Here are some recipes to try for your special cookie club.

http://lorrainesresources.blogspot.com/2014/05/celebrating-graduation-with-funfetti.html

http://lorrainesresources.blogspot.com/2014/05/weekend-cookie-recipe-sugar-cookies.html


Here's the book and some other helpful ideas for your holiday needs:

Fancy Deviled Eggs with pics

Good Morning dear readers,  I'm doing a reposting of the deviled eggs from the early months of the blog.  These are fantastic and so easy the kids can make them in fact conor just made them.  So here are the pics and the link to the recipe enjoy will be posting another easy recipe for Thanksgiving tomorrow.

http://lorrainesresources.blogspot.com/2013_06_01_archive.html

All Things Holiday Art Page

Good Afternoon dear readers and fellow artsy people,  I finally finished another art page.  For those of you who don't know what art journaling is--its a journal using art and words to express yourself.  You don't have to be able to draw you can use stencils, rubber stamps and collage.  So now on to today's page.  The holidays are here so I wanted something depicting the holidays.  I'm really happy with the page because I was able to actually draw something and have it turn out decent.  I painted the background my favourite acrylic colors cranberry and Mosaic blue.  I then rubber stamped happy thanksgiving in blue ink all over the page.  Then I drew my x-mas tree using oil pastels in brown and green using blue, purple and yellow for the decorations.  I glued a scrap booking piece around the tree. It wouldn't be Thanksgiving without the cat sitting in the extra roasting pan looking at me-where's the bird?  I used a cat stamp on card stock to depict Frankie and cut a piece of tin foil for the roasting pan and gesso'd a thought bubble with where's the bird?  Glued collage elements from magazines and store flyer's and wrote in black oil pastel "All Things Holiday".  Thanks for reading if you like please follow me on facebook and pinterest.  We always follow back.  Have a Happy Thanksgiving   

Save Mart B1G1F Roast, Turkey and Ham with purchase

Good Afternoon dear readers,  Kyle and I made a run to Savemart to take advantage of this great offer.  You buy $25 of groceries and get a B1G1F on Turkey, Ham or Pork Roast.  The main reason for going was to get a good sized roast to feed these boys over the holiday.  I love turning roast into sliders so yummy.  Plus I got some good deals for items I needed for Thanksgiving.  So here's what I was able to get.  Have a great day and these deals are going on through Tuesday of next week.  So run and pick up great items.

I opted for two Boneless Pork Roast for the B1G1F and only paid  $5.80  for both

Lays Potato Chips @ $2 each bought 3

Martinellis Sparkling Cider @ $2 each killer deal on these

3-24 oz sodas

2-loafs generic white bread

2-all american lemon pies yes I'm addicted haven't found a homemade replacement-anybody have one plmk.

2-Bags store brand shredded cheese @ $2.99 each sorry guys conor wont let me post his recipe for pizza

El Monterey Chimichangas  @ $3.50 each

Bar S Bacon @ $3.99

Reduced for quick sale 3 packages Foster Farms Honey Roasted Turkey Lunch Meat

2 packages reduced for quick sale steaks

total before coupons/sales  $76.52         after coupons/sales/discounts  O.O.P  $49.86

Saved $26.66                                         savings of  35%

                                           Find out what I make with those roast here
                            http://lorrainesresources.blogspot.com/2014/01/crock-pot-asian-sliders.html

                                    You! You! vile woman I just inspected the shopping cart and
                                their is no Cheesysensations cat food I demand you go back to the store now!!!!

Want to find out more about frankie and other tips I share join us on our our face book page found at http://www.facebook.com/lorraine2448  your gonna love it

Frankies Corner--sleeping on a pokey tree

My boy left the tree box out and I had to sleep on it.

Another Hoisin Flavored Dish-Asian Chicken

Good Morning dear readers,  yes its finally here the Asian barbecue chicken.  The boys liked it so much theirs nothing left this morning.  If mister picky(Conor) eats it, its that good.  I made a lot of changes to the original recipe which came from eating well magazine.  I want to apologize for the pics early could not get the final product outside when it was still sunny for some reason some of my photos come out very dark in my kitchen.  So anyways if you like Hoisin this recipe will not disappoint.  It comes out looking a little like Cajun blacken chicken in some points.  I also let it cook an extra 15 minutes. I always want to make sure the meat is always cooked all the way through. So here's my version of this recipe and here's what you'll need. Bon Appetite.

8-12 pieces of chicken legs and thighs bone-in (note I left the skin on)

1/2 cut up green onions

1 tbs. Soy Sauce

1 tbs. Ginger

1 tbs. Minced Garlic

1/4 cup Hoisin

1/4 tsp Chinese Five Star Spice

Jar of sesame seeds to sprinkle over chicken 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

you can use baking dish or pan either spray with cooking spray or line with tin foil

chopped green onions you can reserve some to put on top after baking

adding green onions and seasoning and spices together accept sesame 

add chicken to sauce and toss to cook
place all chicken on pan and pour left over sauce on it.

let cook for an hour turning over once, meat is done when meat thermometer reads 165 degrees or let cook an extra 15 minutes and poke with fork until juices run clear.

Now your ready to eat.